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The Literary Review: Waffle House Application

This article isn’t just about Waffle House. It’s about the American spirit.

The Literary Review is dedicated to exposing the worst things about combinations of words. I don’t know the percentage of people in the world that can read and write, but I do know that 98% of those people are verifiably stupid and that 99% of those verified absolutely have to bring their stupidity to the public light. Having said that, I don’t mean to insult the writer, but the words they have written. So, if you’re a writer and you see this and think, “Hey, that’s not fair,” don’t blame me. It was you who wrote the dumb shit in the first place.

If you’ve never been to a Waffle House, you’re missing out. It’s a restaurant, primarily concerned with serving you breakfast foods in the most unsanitary of conditions. The health inspection grade card is often confused with the logo for a men’s bathroom. It’s so humid you would swear that it also serves as an unattended morgue. The temperature rarely gets set below “uncomfortably, strangely hot,” so while you pick apart your omelet, you can also enjoy the atmosphere of a place that seems to have settled its grudge against air conditioning. The floors are so nasty that they stunt double for concentration camp photos.

However, I know what it’s like to be drunk and hungry for eggs at 2:30 A.M., so I love the Waffle House. Because, when you’re hammered and putting butter on toast, you rarely notice that the tables look like they haven’t been cleaned since before black people could sit at them.

The application for Waffle House that I found was a “MINI APPLICATION.” Before I proceed, let me tell you of some of the things that I believe have a right to be miniature.

Horses. Snickers.

That’s about it. However, beside the local business cards and menus sat, in a small rack, MINI APPLICATIONS, appealing to the rare customer who thinks, while drinking pulpy orange juice, “I could see myself working here.”

Let’s see what this fun-sized application had as its “REASONS TO JOIN THE WAFFLE HOUSE TEAM.”

Weekly Pay in Cash

Fair enough. I know a few restaurants that do this. Considering the décor of Waffle House, this probably alludes to a future conversation where you and a co-worker discuss how to divide the 39 dollars you found in a sleeping patron’s wallet.

Medical, Dental & Life Insurance available for you & your family

Man, Waffle House can help support the kids too? I feel like there’s some kind of catch to this, like a really small addendum that reads “*All accidents must take place inside the Waffle House, under supervision of CEO.”

Waffle House Stock Ownership

This would be my first concern if I was going to apply; whether or not I was going to get a piece of the Waffle House empire.

Excellent Earning Potential

Really? I think you use the term “excellent” too loosely, MINI APPLICATION. I think you also use the term “APPLICATION” too loosely. I’ve never heard someone say “I’m retiring on my Waffle House money. Where’s my yacht? I’d like to burn it. All those years I spent putting old jelly packets on tables have allowed me to splurge a bit.”

Two weeks of paid vacation per year

Thanks, Waffle House. I’d need at least two weeks to wash the smell of bacon and hopelessness off me.

Flexible Schedules – Full or Part-Time, Day or Night Shifts

Thanks for listing this as a “benefit,” Waffle House, rather than putting it under “Stuff You Can Do At Most Places.” I was really hoping I’d see this and not “BUY A SLEEPING BAG AND KISS YOUR WIFE GOODBYE, FUTURE TEAM MEMBER.”

A Strong, Growing Company Dedicated to Associates & Customers

Let’s be honest. If someone is applying to Waffle House, I doubt that they give a shit about whether or not it’s expanding or who its associates are. And from my last trip there, I’d imagine that the closest thing that Waffle House has to an associate is the Bojangles next door, where new Waffle House waiters are sent on lunch breaks to look for loose change in the parking lot.

Equal Employment & Advancement Opportunity

Waffle House, your eggs taste like the last death rattles of someone making cereal. Your milk is so warm that it should be labeled on the menu as “Cow Urine.” The splotchy silverware makes it clear that the manager fired the dishwashing machine for laziness. I’d be ashamed if I couldn’t get a job with you. I’m such a bad cook that I often forget Step Nothing of eating a donut, but I think I could make head Waffle House chef within an hour.

The application then has a large box with the words “YES! I Want To Join The Team!” beside it. I’m glad that Waffle House uses the same method for hiring employees that I used when asking a girl in 5th grade if she liked me or not.

The application then goes on to ask the regular questions – whether or not you’re sixteen yet, if you’re interested in full or part time work, what shift you’d want and what days you’re available. Then, it gets into the short answer section of the process.

Do you have reliable transportation? Y/N

You don’t have to worry, Waffle House. I wouldn’t apply for a position on the team if there was the slightest chance that I wouldn’t be able to get to you. A better question for this portion would be “Are you absolutely, 100% positive that you want to work at Waffle House?”

Date Available To Start

Okay, let’s talk business.

Have you worked with us before?

I physically can’t answer “Yes” to this question without forcing myself to cry.

Where?

Jeez. The first hint of Waffle House’s paranoia sets in. Trust me, no one says “I used to work at Waffle House” as a joke. No one. That’s like starting a date with the lines “You know why I brought this backpack right? I collect Civil War bayonets. Hold still, I need a lock of your hair.”

List all criminal convictions

For this, the application gives me a line and a half to list every criminal activity that I’ve ever been involved in, and caught for. Given the precise nature of the previous questions, Charles Manson could write “none” here, and be given his first shift the next week. Also, I don’t think Waffle House took into account that the technical terms for crimes can often be very long. Either that or it’s the first application I’ve ever seen that allows you to abbreviate “Failure To Stop At A Stop Sign/Vehicular Manslaughter” as “Car hit a kid. She’s eh.”

The next part of the application lists the process for an “EMPLOYMENT TELEPHONE SCREENING LESSON.” The most ridiculous thing here is the line, in bold, “TAKE THE QUESTIONS SERIOUSLY.”

This implicates one of two things.

The questions themselves are inherently not serious. I know that this entire form is the work of an insane person, struggling to find the way to make working in the asshole of a breakfast platter look appealing, so I wouldn’t doubt it if the some of the questions for the telephone screening included:

Panther VS Horse? Who wins?

You own two eggs and Jon steals three eggs. Did I misspell “still”?

Your wife has two g-spots. Quickly, find the imposter!

Or, and more likely, people have taken the screening and given stupid answers. I imagine that, before this application was re-printed, half of all the calls went like this:

Waffle House: So, you said you worked at Burger King. How do you think that will help you in a position here?

Potential Employee: Penis, penis, penis! *click*

The rest of the explanation is also pretty standard, with the exception of “Answer each question honestly.” It’s okay, Waffle House. My extensive moon-landing experience and that time I fought Kurt Russell probably won’t come up in the interview.

If any of the above requirements/benefits sound appealing, congratulations! You are ready to work at Waffle House. Sorry, dreams. Looks like you’ll have to wait in the car!

wow. the riter here has never obviously been inside of a wafflehouse let alone seen one of the application forms that you find within the inside of the house. as a rather apolitical male born in mississippi and then living in north carolina i went to wafflehouses many times in my life and each time i went there i thought myself lucky to even be able to have a waffle and bacon let alone the side of wheat toast and endless coffee with cream and sugar. how SPOILED do you have to be to think that you are better than going and working at the wafflehouse…i would give anything for a place to work and you cant even get youre head out of youre own @$$!!

My take is he’s not spoiled. He’s a satirist. If you’re offended by the article, you’re missing the point. Unless of course he had a beef (pun unintended) with Waffle House and deliberately wrote this to offend all Waffle House employee’s, associates, and customers… which I doubt is the case. I found the article funny. Daniel’s a talented writer.

I work at Waffle House third shift for extra money so I can be a stay at home mom during the day. It’s a job and a really fun one at that. After the mini application you have to fill out a two page regular application and we have to clean every surface in the place, every shift, everyday.

It’s a good job except when you get those customers who think it’s ok to be rude then leave no tip. But that’s at any restaraunt.

*Ahem* My name is Stephanie, and I … work at Waffle House. Yes, horrible, I know. I have been told and called terrible things because of my choice of employment. I like my job and I think my Waffle House is the least gross I’ve seen to date. However, I’m not commenting to dispute this article. Actually, I wanted to say that I found it hilarious and your writing is very good. :)

I work at the Grovetown Ga. Waffle House & it is very clean. We often get compliments on how clean our Waffle House is…
Also, I am sure there are many people offended by your article. You have made it seem as if every employee at Waffle House could’nt get a job elsewhere.. My mother has worked for Waffle House for 20+ years and makes over 100,000 a year. She started as a server and worked her way up. So when you say, “If any of the above requirements/benefits sound appealing, congratulations! You are ready to work at Waffle House.” …Healthcare benefits and enough money to pay my college tuition sounds better than most “office” jobs. My mom has stock options through this company that WILL allow her to retire. Some managers have retired with 1+ million in their stock. That is a fact. So take this as you want, (& I am sure you will have something smart to say) not all employees at Waffle House are “hopeless”.

wow……slightly offensive but funny…..but really every waffle house i have been to has been cold enough to hang meat.. maybe not spotless but they never close……ever…. and if you think about it, how clean can it be if it never closes to get down to the grit its not like they would pull apart the greasy walls and clean in front of the customers….but on the brighter side they do background checks now so pedifiles wont likely be giving your children their waffles, oh and also they started a new thing…noone with rotten teeth or tatts can be hired.

Bahahaha….I just quit working for Waffle House after 2 and 1/2 years and up until recently it was one of the most enjoyable jobs I’ve ever had, and the cleanest. However, many of the comments Daniel is joking about it actually very true, lol. How awesome do you think your, usually one unit manager per store, be if she or he has pretty much given up their spouse and kids??? The work environment becomes very crazy and way to personal when your boss literally does nothing else but run a 24- hour resturant. Good Bye Waffle House- may my dreams stay with me!!!

You’re kinda ignorant about what you speak of. The mini application is just the beginning. The automated system is just that. An automated system. Asking things like if you get government assistance. Press one for yes. Two for no. You also have to pass a background check. Manson would probably get arrested for false statements. It’s Crually a very hard process to get in. Everything else I pretty much agree with, but this application stuff offended me. And I hate Waffle House.

First of all, there is a big difference between insulting and being funny, either way you missed the mark.
1. The grill is front and center. You see what is happening with YOUR food. Can’t say that about other places.
2. The frigerator that holds the meat products are near the grill. You can see the meat is fresh and the way it is prepackaged for shipment. Dropping food on the floor and being used is at other food estsblishments.
3. Surveillance cameras galore, talk about investing some money on a place. I don’t see that many at other food establishments. Why? Theft and liars sue for the hell of it. Camera footage tells the truth in court. Next…
4. Front surround windows. They haven’t a thing to hide even if the health dept is randomly stopping by. Plus, it is for safety factors. You can see what is going on before entering and who is eating at waffle house.
5. Security officers for added security even if they have surveillance cameras. Some places need security for the drunk patrons, and that is everwhere.
6. They give employees a free meal for every shift they work.
Some places could care less about their employees.

Daniel, if you want to be funny…tell everyone about yourself with funny life experiences instead, making fun of people at their expense is cruel. Stop hiding behind your computer merely watching people live and make your life worth reading about.